#how hard can it be? just learn vocab and grammar and you're good to go

[khaotungsfirst]

decided that it's actually fucking stupid to get so much thai immersion almost daily and not study it so here i am now trying to learn the thai alphabet

[mochayoubi]

hello!! how are you? i'm reaching out to you because you're the one i keep seeing my dashboard that's related to japanese learning.

i wanted to ask: how do you suggest a beginner should start studying? like, they're N5, and they know hiragana and katakana, but do not know how to move forward from there because it scares them? (it's me, btw, hi hello how are you how are the kids)

thank you so much!! have a good day!!

omg hi!!! im doing ok (im sick rn but it's fine lol) thanks sm for the ask! :3

i think the best thing you can do for yourself is follow your curiosity! at the early stages of learning curiosity will take you much farther than trying to set hard deadlines for yourself - especially when it sounds like moving forward is a bit intimidating at the moment.

so, i'm going to list out things that might be worth checking out. it takes a while for people to figure out what works for them, and since you mentioned you already know hiragana/katakana you're primed to get out there and really explore your options! embrace the feeling of possibility rather than the fear of the unknown :D i say this bc if you get too caught up in making the "right" choice it might just make learning too stressful to want to continue

anyway here's some things that beginners commonly go for when continuing with japanese learning (under the readmore)

find a textbook and work through it there's a bunch out there, I know Genki I is probably the most well-known, but i'm also familiar with Tobira I, Yookoso, and Minna no Nihongo. textbooks are nice because they're literally designed for learners and offer structure to what order you learn kanji, grammar, etc. and come with lots of practice questions. the difficult part is self-teaching through them since they tend to assume youre also using it with a teacher who can correct you and give advice. however they're still pretty good as references imo! if you google "[textbook name] pdf" they're pretty likely to come up

find an app you can use daily there are also a lot of these, and many of them are designed to be used daily so you can better enforce the habit of studying japanese every day. these tend to be simpler and gamefied to make it more appealing and easier to pick up as well. i would just stay away from duolingo as i've heard their japanese curriculum is bad. some other ones i've heard are helpful are Renshuu and Human Japanese.

find an online guide and follow it by "online guide" i mean websites people have compiled of their own guides to learning japanese, such as Tae Kim. these are more accessible and unlike textbooks tend to assume that you are self-studying, so it's easier to follow independently, but usually don't have any practice questions or ways to test yourself. still good as a reference. you can also check out this website that specifies their philosophy on what makes effective japanese learning and what steps to take as a beginner (imo it's very. long. and winds on for a while. but people have said it helps!)

download and use anki anki is an app (both phone and pc) that uses flashcards and that many learners use to retain vocab. their site has decks other people have created, and you can find decks of "core vocab" for example which has flashcards of common japanese vocab. you can also create your own flashcards of words you encounter in the wild to help practice them even after you've read it. i think anki is super useful, but i would probably suggest using it once you have more of a grasp on basic japanese concepts or else you'll just be rote-memorizing things that don't make sense to you yet. but i'm putting it here in case this appeals to you!

take a class or find an online tutor now this one will most likely cost you money, but it offers the most structure and guidance possible which can be extremely helpful starting out since you're able to ask questions and get feedback. you can look into nearby universities who might offer japanese classes, or you can try one of the many language-learning tutor websites out there. i've had some decent success with italki, and there's also JOI (japanese online institute) that i've heard is very helpful too.

watch japanese-learning videos these can be nice bc you can actually hear the japanese and how it's supposed to sound, and it's typically lower effort and easier to get into than actively starting a textbook or class. miku real japanese, japarrot, and 日本語の森 are channels i've watched before and like, but there's plenty others out there too. i'd just steer away from clickbait-y looking ones like "i learned japanese in 30 days and here's how!!" since they tend to not be that helpful.

read simple stories in japanese reading in japanese tends to be the most intimidating step for people, but there's sites that have stories made for beginners that are easy to follow and only use hiragana/katakana. my go-to for my students is usually tadoku since the stories are short, organized by level, and very beginner friendly. a while ago someone showed me natively which lets you look up japanese books, also by level. if you want some good beginner manga, yotsuba and teasing master takagi-san are what i've recommended before

misc. things you can try!

watch anime but intentionally - try to actively listen and pick up on words they say. a long time ago i used animelon, which puts japanese subtitles that you can adjust to show hiragana only

look up jlpt n5/n4 specific materials. they're geared for an exam so it might not be the most natural feeling, but they do tend to be convenient for lists of vocab and grammar. this website has some helpful resources for that

add an extension on your browser that will let you hover over japanese words and see its definition. i use firefox and have 10ten reader to do this, but rikaikun and yomichan are also similar extensions

when you learn the japanese word for something in your house, put a sticky note on it that has the japanse word. like, for "table" you can put a note on it that says 「テーブル」. i heard this can help with retention (i haven't done it myself tbf)

EDIT: ohh i can't believe i forgot this. but join a japanese-learning community! there's discord servers out there, and if you have a friend willing to study with you you can ask them to be your accountability buddy.

anyway, i know that was a lot but i hope that gives you some direction on where you'd like to go next in your japanese learning journey! ^_^ and again, absolutely no pressure to do all of these. the most important thing is letting curiosity be your guide and fostering a positive relationship with learning japanese rather than being afraid. if i can help out some more lmk!!

[german-enthusiast]

hi im sorry this questons isnt in German but im not confident in my ability and I can only read some of your shorter German posts. Do you have any way to learn more than just buzz words? Like I can understand bits and pieces but reading still is really hard for me, I'm asking because of your recent post lol its okay if you cant help me, thank you for your time!

Hi! No need to ask in German, no worries!

It would be interesting to know how you've been learning so far and for how long!

At the start of learning a language by yourself, it often makes sense to choose a pre-planned curriculum such as a textbook or online course (a free online example that's quite solid would be the DW Deutsch Lernen program!) That way you learn basic grammar concepts and words that connect to whole sentences instead of merely disconnected buzz words.

Beyond the basics, I believe it makes most sense to focus on the topics that are important to you personally and try to curate your resources based on that. Be it hobbies (learn sports vocab, art vocab, history vocab etc), aspects of your personal life (talking about family history, queerness, mental health, etc), your field of study/work (talking about science, art, linguistics, crafts, etc), or interests (like analyses of video games, literature, movies, historical events, politics, etc).

If you're dependent on buzz words, it sounds like you need a larger vocabulary overall and maybe going (back) to the basics will be worth it! A good way to figure out what vocab you're missing is to create output and see where you're stuck (though of course you always can understand more than you can produce!)

Most of the time, I don't hold back with my posts (i rather add to my complicated sentences than dumb them down!) so don't judge yourself too harshly based on them!

[ruhua-langblr]

Hi, you seem to have a decent grasp on Language Learning Resources™, so maybe you could help me.

I currently have a 2600+ day streak for Duolingo Spanish, which I initially picked up because I took classes in school and wanted to see if I remembered any. I'm well aware of the limitations on the app, and at this point it's just because I like to see the number go up. I've only ever been a casual student but I would like to progress eventually. The problem is I have trouble finding a method between gamified app, and full-blown, academic, novel -and- textbook self study. Do you know of good ways to move past Duolingo lessons without biting off more than you can chew?

Thanks for any input you have

Hi!

I feel like that "number goes up" connection is the main reason a lot of people don't want to move on from Duo and similar apps! I hope to do a post that goes into all of this more in depth, so consider this a shortened version~

My personal philosophy is that you shouldn't have to chose between just gamified apps and academic study—ideally you need it to be engaging enough to keep up for when you have less motivation, but with an academic rigor! I'm gonna drop some general resources/resource types and try to give them all a shot! Don't think of replacing Duo with a singular app or activity, but a collection of resources that you can switch between.

Anki: SSR vocab learning. Lots of customization and habit tracking features available so consider this a good "number goes up" replacement (and if you really love looking at data it's much more thorough!). With Spanish as your TL (target language), you'll have plenty of pre-made decks available. You can have specific decks, sentence mine, or have a huge 5,000 most frequent words deck. Anki isn't my favorite method personally, but people get SUPER into it and it works for them—also you'll hear this everywhere anyway.

Language Transfer: I wish my TL was one of the ones they have! If you're coming from Duo then you've probably been lacking a good method to really train your listening skills. 100% free, and I've heard great things about their Spanish course as well. All the files are available to be downloaded to listen to offline. Great to put on when you're getting ready in the morning, for bed, or during a commute.

LingQ/Youtube/Podcast Comprehensible Input: "[TL] Comprehensible Input" in the Youtube search will get you pretty far. There are podcasts like this as well, but it's nice to have a visual stimuli as well! This is pretty much the epitome of a ~natural language acquisition~ style. Immersion and immersion at an appropriate level is what works best. If you've even dipped your toes into the language acquisition sphere, you'll know Steve Kaufmann. LingQ is his app that's based on these principles.

Textbooks: Duo assumes that you can just pick up grammar from pattern recognition and that can work, but upper-level nuanced grammar or grammar patterns that are vastly different from your native language are hard to intuit. Find a good, dedicated grammar textbook and use that as what you will learn the details of grammar from. All that audio stuff will teach you what sounds right, this will teach you why/how it's right. (Buy a used textbook, visit your library, or check out my pinned post...)

+More: There's so MANY ways to learn a language. I'm focusing on specific methods that would fit in naturally with your existing habits (solo, digital, habit-forming), but there's tons more out there that you can do: journaling, discord servers, italki, chatting apps, graded readers, etc.

To start pick one that you feel the most drawn to and then a second that compliments where it might be lacking. Make a goal that you feel is reachable, and build from there.

Best of luck!

[enterpris]

An Education in Attraction, Chapter 7

Pairing: Reader x Gojo

Summary: It's spring when you start your Master's degree. As the flowers and leaves unfold, so too do your feeling for Gojo

Warnings: Mild swearing

Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Ao3: PlaidSparrow

"Teacher! What are we doing in class today? Can we skip the lesson and just have conversation time?" Kaba Ryo is one of your more enthusiastic students. 

You wave the stack of assignments in front of you. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we've got some worksheets today. There will be plenty of time to talk after, though."

He sighs and walks to the front of the classroom. You hand the sheets to Ryo, who lays them out on each desk as the rest of your students trickle in. 

Many of the students greet you as they enter, and your heart swells. Teaching while completing your graduate program is taxing, but there’s nowhere else you feel the same joy as when you’re leading the classroom. In the couple months you’ve been working with this group, the students have really warmed up to you. Not only are they more eager to participate in conversations with each other, they have plenty of questions about your life before coming to Japan and outside of the Eikaiwa school too. 

Today they’re flooding you with questions about how hard the classes in your Graduate program are. 

"Not as hard as learning a new language," you assure them. "What you're doing now will prepare you well for university."

You’ve settled into a rhythm of letting the students ask some questions at the beginning of class, it’s a good opportunity for them to practice new words and speaking. You answer since it’s a good application of listening skills too. Then you have them complete the worksheets. The sheets will introduce the new vocab in the next unit you planned. Since you're thinking so much about your future, you want to incorporate future tense and more professional words into your lessons. 

The second half of your sessions is where you have the most fun. Language learning is best done through practice, and giving the students some freedom to converse or preparing a game for them to apply grammar concepts is probably more fun than doing worksheets too. Today you’ll have them talk about their future dreams- jobs, goals, whatever the students hope for really. 

Most of these students have been enrolled in Eikaiwa schools since lower Middle School, and came into your class with high levels of proficiency. You just want to nurture their natural curiosity and talents. 

But you’re also determined to make sure your pupils are challenged. You want your students to pick up new phrases and ask questions about why English is the way that it is. Being able to communicate in English is a valuable skill in the current world, even though you have mixed feelings about your native tongue being a Lingua Franca.  

“Future tense in English is super easy, I bet you all can master it by the time you leave class today.” You explain the basics of using ‘will’ or ‘going to’ as auxiliary verbs. Then you turn the class loose to get some hands-on experience with the new structures. 

You walk around the circle of desks and listen to the overlap of your students’ conversations. You smile to yourself. The high schoolers are immediately integrating the vocabulary from the practice sheet, and they’re successfully beginning to use present tense too. You only have to make corrections to two conversation groups before the class is over.

It’s incredible to think about just how far these students have come so far. The first couple of classes were so reserved and quiet, you’ve had to really work on encouraging the students to speak up. But that’s the exciting part of teaching- engaging each pupil and finding what they’re passionate about and how they learn. When it’s time to end the class, your students are still chatting amongst each other, switching between Japanese and English.  

“Thank you!”

“See you next week!”

The chorus of support from your students is more intense than usual as they head out. You think it’s probably because you assign less homework than some of their previous teachers, but nonetheless, you can’t shake the satisfaction of a fruitful class as you pack up your bag and hop on the metro home. 

Browsing on your phone as you wait for your stop, you see that Gojo texted you again- it must have come through just as you were starting class. He had reached out asking if you were available to work on things today. 

That’s…interesting. After the relative success of your last meeting, perhaps he’s gotten over the awkwardness from the beginning of the term. One civil meeting hasn’t mended the insult of his brash outburst though, and even though he’s reaching out of his own volition, you’re hesitant to meet again.    

You debate your response for a moment and then send a quick apology, explaining that you work part time teaching and you hadn’t seen his message earlier. Since it’s already approaching evening, and it’s unlikely he wants to spend his Saturday night writing an academic paper with you, you don't offer to meet him now. 

You’ve fallen into the habit of spending your Sundays at the cafe just off campus though. The beige interior and quiet morning crowd are quite conducive to more lengthy reading, and you’ve got plans to catch up on the next chapters. You don’t want to completely brush off your partner, so on a whim you invite Gojo to join you tomorrow, it’s likely he’ll be too busy anyway.

By the time the metro stops and you walk back to your dorm, he hasn’t responded. 

The next morning, sun leaks through your window and paints your room with warmth. You’ve barely blinked but the mild sunshine of May is quickly melting into the sweltering summer of June, bringing later evenings and beautiful early mornings. 

As you dress for the day you check your phone and see that Gojo had sent you an affirmative message in the early hours of the morning. You hesitate, it had been an impulsive invite and you hadn’t thought he’d actually take you up on your offer. 

Apparently he is serious about working on things, though.

You pack up your bag and head to the cafeteria to grab breakfast, sending Gojo a quick message that he can expect you at the cafe in around an hour. A very normal breakfast should settle your nerves and set you up to be your cleverest when working on the project. 

After a quick stop for breakfast, you’re surprised to see Gojo’s beat you to the cafe. He’s already lounging in the small chair and sipping something. The table he’s chosen is tucked in the back, close to where you had sat the second time you’d met. You might have missed him if not for his very distinctive hair. 

When you sit down, Gojo offers you a smile. There’s no notes or drinks waiting this time, but he seems to be in good spirits.  

“Hey,” he greets. 

You respond in kind and start to set up. It feels strange to not engage in some kind of small talk, but you haven’t forgotten how unresponsive he originally was when you tried to ask about his weekend. Perhaps this new sunnier mood will make him more chatty too. Before you can break the silence, Gojo interrupts your thoughts. 

“So this is where you were working on your example problems alone?”

You blanch. Maybe Gojo hasn’t forgiven you for working alone just yet. 

The shock must be evident on your face because he laughs and leans farther back in his chair. It’s warm and deep- a genuine laugh. 

“Damn, you thought I was mad still, huh?”

Now this is a side of Gojo you haven’t seen before. He’s been quiet and standoffish and rude, but never- teasing? 

You’re feeling unmoored and strange. You shake off the similarities and answer. 

“Uh, yeah. But this is where I do a lot of my work, it’s usually pretty slow here on Sundays.”

“I looked over them by the way. Not bad. Have you started on the actual curriculum?”

“I’ve just got some initial notes. Have you begun yours?”

Gojo nods and pulls a notebook out of his bag. There are pages and notes sticking out the sides, densely packed with his messy handwriting and drawings. He carelessly flips it open and flicks quickly through the pages before turning it towards you.

“There’s some patches I haven’t fully detailed yet, still thinking about what depth to go into.”

You scan the page quickly and see that he’s seemingly outlined different streams of depth for physics- he’s listed particular concepts and already linked some with experiment setups. 

“Which principle is driving your decisions so far? We’ll have to explain each of the objectives and why we’ve chosen the material for the curricula.”

Gojo explains his outline and points out the most critical pieces he wanted included. You listen, intrigued. Although your outline for this project isn’t as developed as Gojo’s yet, your years at the Eikaiwa school have given you experience, including mistakes trying to move too fast or pack too much into your lesson plans. You’ve found it’s best to be somewhat agile and allow for more or less time depending on the particular needs of the class you’re working with.  

Your computer sits forgotten as the two of you converse about best pacing and how to choose the key objectives, and you leave the cafe in the afternoon ready to continue building your own curricula. 

The rest of the week goes smoothly: class and reviewing with Saito and Kuzume, another lesson at the Eikaiwa school, until you find yourself settling down at the cafe on Sunday once more. 

When Gojo doesn’t reach out first, it’s nearly impossible to schedule time to work together. You’re never more thankful for your iron timetable than when you have to plan another working session. Trying to find free time in his schedule is like clinging onto a mechanical bull- it seems every other week he’s out of town busy. You wonder if he is speaking at a conference or presenting work that he’s done in the past like Saito and Kuzume had suggested. 

The chapter you’re reading is lengthy and technical. Your brows scrunch and you try to decipher exactly what the author is trying to say about teaching philosophy. This particular text is a bit flowery for your tastes, but you suppose it’s good to absorb an array of perspectives while you’re trying to figure out exactly how you’re going to run your classroom.

You’re re-reading the previous sentence when your phone buzzes aggressively from the table. It goes off again. You have an idea of who might be texting before you even look at the messages. Gojo is available to work on the project today, and he'll head to the cafe shortly. 

It’s a pleasant surprise. You shut the curriculum textbook and open the document the two of you have slowly built. Even though Gojo prefers pen and paper over typing, he’s dutifully added his examples and the curricula he’d shown you last time. The rough draft has really grown too, the example problems are artfully woven together between the subjects and you’re feeling optimistic about adding your curricula .

Gojo blows through the doors of the cafe nearly 20 minutes later, giving you a quick wave and heading straight for the register. You nod back to him and return your focus to the computer.

He swoops into the chair across from you and throws his bag down. The last few times you’ve met his mood seems to be impenetrably sunny, and his appearance is nearly as consistent. You’ve never seen him without dark sunglasses, and his clothes are always flattering and tailored. It seems he may be thawing with the warm weather though- he’s in a crisp blue button down instead of his normal shadowy color palette. 

“How’re things going?”

“Going well so far, I’ve just been going over what we’ve written so far.” You pause for a moment. “I honestly wasn’t expecting you’d be able to work today.”

Two meetings in as many weeks without prior planning seems incredibly lucky. Or Gojo’s finally warmed up to you and isn’t trying to avoid meeting with excuses. 

He shrugs. “No other plans. And I do want to get this done.”

“I wanted to talk more about the curricula. I finished my objectives and thought we could compare pacing.” You say. 

“Sure.”

“I’ve taught in Eikaiwa schools for years now and classes usually go the same speed, but sometimes certain units take longer. Or we focus more on what the students want to learn. I wish there was more flexibility.”

“I agree. Honestly it should depend more on how the class is doing. You can’t teach every student the same.”

This is the first time Gojo’s outright agreed with something you’ve said. While you’ve seen some parallels in the way you both want to teach, there are usually more differences than similarities. 

The pieces come together in your brain. The simple example problems he’d provided. Saying that community makes the classroom. It’s not the material that he cares so much for, it’s the people that he’s teaching. It’s about the students.

You look up at Gojo in realization. He’s taken out his stack of notes and is absorbed in looking through the sheets. You take him in and re-evaluate. He runs a hand through his hair again then taps the end of the pen on the table. The sun catches in his silver hair and plays off the sunglasses he’s wearing again.

It feels oddly intimate to realize. 

His apparent teaching philosophy also seems directly opposed to the way he acts in class. If he's passionate about building an educational community, why doesn't he bother talking to any of your peers? Or participating in classroom discussions?

"Yeah," you say slowly. "I think approaching each learning style is the most valuable." 

You don’t want to disturb the working relationship the two of you are just building, and you’re hesitant to voice your realization since he’s been cagey about his personal life. You could either drop the subject or push a little harder and see if he’ll be more open this time. 

“You seem very passionate about the students’ experience,” you say neutrally. 

Gojo’s attention snaps from his notes onto you. You were right.

He doesn’t say anything for a moment. Once again, you’re left wondering what’s going on inside his head. Aside from the speed he looked at you, there’s no hint on his face. His jaw is soft and relaxed, and you can’t see his eyes.

“I think we need to start working on bringing our curricula together. It’s a big part of the project.” Gojo leans forward and looks at your screen and completely bypasses your observation. 

When you’re both looking at the content, the two of you do work well together. You fall into a rhythm analyzing the content of the paper, deciding how to really organize the sections you’ve written so far. Gojo is inquisitive and always has you justify your decisions, but you push back on some of his assertions on how to meld the subjects together. 

Soon you and Gojo are trading questions, hardly answering each other as you both edit the document.  

“What’s the purpose of this example?”

“I see why you put this objective here, but I think it would fit better in the next section.”

“Do you remember if this study was subject specific? Or were the data points generalized?”

“This objective doesn’t fit with your others. How can you adjust it to work better with the full curriculum?”

“What was your thought process for this problem?” 

The paper looks ten times more organized, and you’re much happier with the flow of information by the time you’re finished. You lean back in your chair, rub the cramps from your fingers, and smile at Gojo. 

By the time you leave the cafe, it’s late afternoon and it feels like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. The rainy season has only brought light showers, and today the sun is bright on your face as you walk back to your dorm. In fact, it seems a shame to waste the lovely weather of the day.

As a treat to yourself, you detour through the botanic gardens on your way home. The gardens are lush and heavy with growth at this time of year. Light twinkles on the surface of the central lake and the hydrangeas and orchids have come into full bloom- their light scent floats above the grounds and adds another layer of richness to the experience. By the time you make it back to your room and think about dinner, you’re practically glowing with happiness. 

[woahzpeltwrong]

WHAT I THINK OF YOU BASED ON YOUR DUOLINGO LANGUAGE OF CHOICE AS A PERSON WITH AN ALMOST 800 DAY LONG STREAK EXCEPT IT KIND OF DEVOLVES AND I MOSTLY COMPLAIN ABOUT DUOLINGO:

(I hope i did this cut right if not this is gonna be LLLOOONG)

Spanish: The classic. It's classic because it's the language that Duolingo is best at. It's actually half decent. You actually have a chance at learning Spanish! Besides that, you probably enjoy the memes about Duolingo, and I imagine your streak is decently long.

French: Everything I know about french Duolingo is bad. It's the only language that's picky about punctuation, it's often wrong for no reason, you probably are struggling. Also, can you conjugate a verb? Duolingo is generally bad with that. Besides that, everyone I know who does French duolingo is slightly pretentious and I don't think I trust you as a person.

German: Ohhhh boy. If you're attempting to learn German with Duolingo alone you might as well just buy the textbook already. While Duolingo is already not great, grammar is so rough for German on Duolingo. Please don't try to learn German grammar with Duolingo. Anyway I think if you're learning German in general you're pretty cool and that's no different for Duolingo learners. Best of luck to yall

Italian: I don't actually know much about Italian Duolingo. I do know that the two people I know that the two people that I know who do Italian Duolingo are gay though so Im assuming you're either Italian-American or gay.

Japanese: This used to be so, so much worse. They improved it, though. It's actually not horrible! Please do supplement your learning with something besides Duolingo, though. You will learn practically nothing otherwise. Anyway 99% chance you like anime because you're learning Japanese on Duolingo

Chinese: it could definitely be worse! It's definitely HORRIBLE, but it is usually actually right and its grammar isn't absolute trash like some of the other ones. It is definitely on the worse side for grammar, but it's not Latin. Aside from all of that, I do think there's at least a 25% chance you're doing this because you ARE Chinese, and a 75% chance you're doing this because you heard Mandarin was hard and wanted to see how true that was without putting money into it.

Russian: ME TOO!!!! This is my primary language on Duolingo currently and all I have to say is why? It's really not worth using Duolingo for, since I started in October 2022 and all I can say is that my potato is cold. It's primarily focused on vocabulary, but it's very random vocabulary, and you learn exactly none of the grammar at any point. I think you're cool :)

Korean: immediately stop. Please learn Korean somewhere else. It's not worth it. One of the worse ones, but at least it's not Latin Duolingo. If you actually actively do this you TERRIFY me and i am begging you to stop

Portuguese: uhhhh.... sure, i guess. It's not great, but it's... fine, I think. It's decent for vocabulary, if nothing. I have literally never met a Portuguese Duolingo learner though

Arabic: ALPHABET? YES. EVERYTHING ELSE? PLEASE NO. My opinion of you is the exact same as for Chinese, 75% chance you heard it was hard and didn't want to commit yet

Dutch: I genuinely did not know this was on Duolingo until I started doing this. Since it's not super popular I am also going to assume Duolingo does not care about it and it is probably only good for vocab. I do not think you are out there, I do not think people learn Dutch on Duolingo.

Swedish: as always please learn on something else its only good for vocabulary anyway you probably live in sweden, i think? Isnt it popular there or something??

Norwegian: general rule of thumb: vocabulary is the only thing duolingo is good at. Anyway, what? Learn somewhere else, anything below chinese on the list has been left to rot and they do not care about it

Turkish: wwwwow. You are really something! Learn Turkish somewhere else. At least it's not Latin

.....

At this point i became tired of saying "it's only good for vocabulary, learn grammar somewhere else." This can be assumed for literally everything.

.....

Polish: YOU SCARE ME POLISH DUOLINGO IS HARD

Irish: you are above the age of 45 and american

Greek: you are a mythology buff

Hebrew: you were probably curious. Everyone else learned somewhere else

Danish: im sorry that you're learning Danish. You are a sad person.

Hindi: The only person I know who is doing Hindi Duolingo is Indian herself, so I guess you're probably Indian idk

Czech: ...???????? Stop

Esperanto: generally i just hate Esperanto with such a burning passion that i don't think anyone should learn it

Ukranian: you're trying! I imagine you will give up in a week though, sorry!

Welsh: I'm all for protecting endangered languages but this isnt how to do it

Vietnamese: a language with six tones and they teach you how to pronounce 0 of them. You're probably cool but stop with duolingo

Hungarian: I did not know this was on duolingo! Very brave of you to try learning a Uralic language on Duolingo, is it going horribly?

Swahili: learn somewhere else. You are probably so cool but duolingo and SWAHILI??????????

Romanian: The only person ive ever met who did this gave up in 3 days because duolingo sucks. I am assuming your streak is no longer than a week

Indonesian: ..... okay. Sure. At least its not Latin.... I think you started learning this completely for fun though

Hawaiian: I HATE DUOLINGO FOR THIS!!!! IT IS A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED LANGUAGE IT DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU FOR LEARNING IT BUTHFJCNEIFBDJFJDSJD!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE YOU DUOLINGO

Navajo: see above. Love you. Hate duolingo.

Klingon and High Valyrian: i hate you

Latin: HERE IT IS. MY WORST ENEMY. GOD I HATE LATIN DUOLINGO. THE AUDIO QUALITY WAS CLEARLY RECORDED IN A CAR. ITS NOT EVEN GOOD FOR VOCABULARY BECAUSE IT IS LITERALLY WRONG VERY VERY OFTEN. ITS SUPER PICKY ON WORD ORDER AND FOR WHAT? ITS LATIN!!! ITS NOT PICKY!!!! IVE BEEN LEARNING LATIN IN A FORMAL SETTING FOR 3 YEARS NOW AND I HATE LATIN DUOLINGO MORE THAN ANYTHING. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN LATIN BUY A LATIN ENGLISH DICTIONARY. IF YOU WANT GRAMMAR GO ONTO MAGISTRULA. ITS A GREAT WEBSITE FOR LATIN GRAMMAR. OH, BUT WHAT ISNT GREAT? DUOLINGO. IN LATIN, TO ANNOY IS TRANSLATED AS "vexare". THIS IS. ACCORDING TO DUOLINGO, "to come from". WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT??? I HATE DUOLINGO. I HATE THIS. ITS ALWAYS WRONG. THE AUDIO QUALITY IS ACTUALLY GARBAGE. I HATE DUOLINGO I HATE DUOLINGO I HATE DUOLINGO. DO NOT LEARN LATIN ON DUOLINGO!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE DUOLINGO SO MUCH I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT DONT USE LATIN DUOLINGO YOU ARE BEING LIED TO

Scottish Gaelic: you are again over 45 and American

Finnish: ohhhh god. I am so sorry. Ur cool ig but im sorry

Yiddish: i am, again, so sorry. Its duolingo. You can't write IN YIDDISH in duolingo because of course you cant

Haitian Creole and Zulu: I don't believe you these are the bottom two languages

[doedipus]

here's a few thingies I've been a fan of

bunpro is another really good resource, they have concise and pretty clear references for basic grammar and a lot of common turns of phrase, along with tons of example sentences and links to other more in depth resources. they also have vocab flashcards based on popular textbooks, but I haven't messed with that much. probably the biggest boost to my reading comprehension outside of the actual class I took back in the day.

wanikani is a good tool for learning kanji & associated vocab, but it's a little pricey. the authors write goofy mnemonics for everything that help a bit with recognizing new characters before you know a lot of words they appear in.

anki is the definitive freeware option for any kind of flashcard based vocab or kanji practice. there's tons of custom decks people have made that emulate other popular services or textbooks, and it's easy to make your own cards for terms you run across in the wild.

you should also do your best to find stuff at your reading level to work through (ideally stuff that is actually interesting to read when possible) in addition to any textbook practice or flashcard resource. and also, if you can find excuses to write, then it's a good idea to do that too.

it's easier to comprehend how a word or phrase is used when you notice it in context a bunch, and I mean, using the language for consuming media and communicating with people is the whole point of learning a language.

here's a few things that help with native material:

tadoku has a bunch of low reading level graded readers (think time 4 kids if you're american) that are good for building comprehension early on. a lot of the early ones don't have kanji, and all of the ones that do also have furigana

yomichan is a browser extension for chrome and firefox that can display definitions/readings of selected text in a tooltip and save a lot of tabbing back and forth between something you're reading and a reference. there's also an android app called wakarichan that does roughly the same thing on mobile. both let you generate flashcards for anki on the fly.

weblio is a huge database of japanese and english sentences that is a lot of help in figuring out the semantics of how something or other ought to be expressed. it's a database search and not a machine translator though, so punching in longer phrases will yield fewer results pretty quickly

mokuro is a very barebones python program that you can feed manga raws to and it'll spit out an html file you can load up in a browser with selectable text to help with looking things up. it's pretty straightforward to use if you can get past the lack of gui

NHK web easy has news articles written at roughly a 3rd or 4th grade reading level. going off JLPT standards I think they aim for around N4? if you're past the point where the early tadoku readers are useful and want to read something other than slice of life manga raws this is a good place to go.

I'm unsure whether it's a good idea to mention directly on tumblr but there's a site that has streams of a lot of anime with japanese subtitles with integrated definition tooltips, anki integration, and a tooooonnnn of other features. it's discussed pretty often in various forums and such, so it shouldn't be hard to find

I can never tell if linking to SA works for people that don't have accounts, but the OP of the japanese language thread has a bunch of other resources to look at.

there's like a million different places to look when trying to learn japanese, but the main thing is just finding something that works and sticking to it. and reading. read native material. find stuff at your reading level and read it. please.

it's poor form to air your petty grievances with someone when it comes out they did something actually bad. save that for companies, like when you learn duolingo removed kanji from its beginner's japanese courses as part of their collab with crunchy roll

[njtw-notes]

why njtw-notes?

hey!♡ in this post I wanted to outline the purpose of this blog, and how it can be used by both me and you!

﹖why njtw-notes? with njtw being my favorite variety show, I've watched it countless times, and picked up a lot of words and phrases, that helped me with learning korean! so I've decided, that I want to go the extra mile, to not leave a stone unturned and try to learn everyting unknown from this show, all the words I was too lazy to look up when I was watching lol; but also I wanted to make a place where if you're also watching the show & learning korean, you have a space where each episode's vocab is broken down and explained!

﹖ why so much effort for a variety show? in my exprerience, variety shows have been one of the best ways to learn and remember new words, its always like a random chance, you might get an everyday word, that just will be easier to remember, or a completelly out-of-pocket word, that you won't hear in your daily life or study curriculum

﹖ how does everyting work? if you have a corresponding post opened while watching an episode, you will be able to have most of the words explanations visible and ready to read! also good for if you've watched the show before and want to refresh your memory, or if you're picking up a new show to better your korean!

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ what kind of posts can I find here?˖ ݁݁ 𖥔.

☆ long-format vocab posts - like most of the currently existing posts, these are basically as the name of the blog suggests lol all of the notes I'm taking while rewatching the episodes, all of the new words & expressions that are interesting to me;

☆ short-format vocab posts - however, I believe that not every single person is interested in all the little tiny details, so these posts will feature a top-10 selection of the most useful words/expressions from the episode! (level varying from beginner-intermediate)

☆ konglish posts - these will feature all the konglish words used; because these are way easier to remember and there's not so many, words from multiple season could be combined in one post!

☆ 사자성어 & 속담 posts - special posts for four-syllable idioms and proverbs

☆ other phrases and words posts - a post here and there about an episode of a different show, like I've done for HYBE x Game Caterers (also produced by Na PD so it counts lol), or about the use of 비글, or "beagle" and other dog breeds as a personality type

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ can I..........˖ ݁݁ 𖥔.

......ask questions about a specific word/grammar? - yes, of course! please include all the relevant info (like season, episode, time stamp etc) and I'll try my best to explain it!

......use the 사자성어 and 속담 lists for preparing for TOPIK? - yes, that's exactly why I'm doing it too! the goal is to at least be familiar with as many as possible, so this is a good way to do this!

......request a different show/episode breakdown? - if the show/episode is related to njtw and its cast, then I will probably get to it and it will be covered in the future, so absolutely yes! however for other shows it might be not always possible :( someone stop me before i make running-man-notes too lol

✖ please do not.... ✖

.......reuse for personal or commercial profit - this includes posting a screenshot and claiming creation of it or using all the matherial to make a study course etc. while creating these posts is fun, it's also hard work with all the compiling, rewatching and researching, so for someone else to just take it and run with it would be unfair. BTW just sharing / reposting is absolutely fine! just if not done maliciously c:

☆ ending thoughts ☾

this blog has been an idea of mine for a few years now, and I'm so happy that I finally get to do it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! ♡

also with doing these few posts I'm realizing this will probably take months if not years so....it's gonna be a long ride!! :D

any updates to this post will be linked here

thank you for reading and being here! here's to all the seasons we have ahead of ourselves <3

[nordic-language-love]

i was curious if you could recommend any books/resources for learning Norwegian? (or just your favorite language resources in general) thank you!

Hi there!

In terms of books like textbooks:

The Mystery of Nils (A1/A2) and Mysteriet om Nils (B1/B2) are pretty great imo.

Norwegian Tutor from Teach Yourself has been an absolute life-saver for grammar

Also from Teach Yourself is Norwegian Short Stories, which has vocab lists for each story

Enjoy Norwegian is good for higher intermediate (although I've never really clicked with it)

Another one I never clicked with but is used in a lot of language schools is På Vei (A1/A2 level)

Some other resources:

Lesnorsk norskkurs - texts from A1-B2 level

I do actually think the Duolingo course is okay tbh (the audio's sometimes a bit strange, but as far as free resources go it's really good imo!)

Memrise is also a popular resource: here's a link to the first of their Norwegian courses (never clicked with it myself, but a lot of people like it)

Lingohut is also pretty good!

CALST is awesome for helping you learn to speak specific dialects

I’ve not tried using it, but Bnorsk seems to be a website where you can learn Norwegian for free

I also take classes on italki (if you're interested in giving it a go then lmk so I can give you a referral code and get you a few dollars off your first lesson. I've also taken lessons from a number of tutors and can maybe help you find the best one for you)

Here's a bunch of Norwegian instagram accounts you can follow

This is a website with set expressions and idioms in Norwegian

Bildetema is good for vocabulary - you see pictures with the Norwegian words next to them, and you can click on them to see how they’re pronounced. There are lots of different topics too!

ung.forskning.no is quite good if you're like B1 level and interested in science because the articles are quite short and basically made for younger readers so the language isn't so difficult (a number of them also have corresponding podcast episodes, so you can read the article to learn a bit about the topic and then listen to the podcast)

Drops and uTalk (both apps) also have Norwegian available to learn (I’m not a huge fan of them, but you might be!)

I also use the Anki app on my phone to create flashcards (there’s a free knock-off version and a legit version that costs like £20+. I use the free one and it’s fine).

Podcasts:

Norskpodden is a good podcast for learners as they also have a transcript

Lær Norsk Nå! is also aimed at learners

Norsklærer Karense has her own podcast too (A2+)

I quite like Smartere på 10 minutter as well because it's interesting and it's short and the presenter speaks in clear Oslo dialect. If you're still not used to listening in Norwegian, you can slow it down to half speed. (B1+)

Oppdatert is also not too long, the presenters speak quite clearly and it’s about current affairs (B1+)

E-books

While I absolutely do not endorse the author's awful transphobic views, I know a lot of people are interested in reading the Harry Potter books as a way to expand their vocabulary, and it sure would be a shame if you could find all the PDFs free online and not have to give money to that aforementioned author. (Side note: the translator uses "omforladels" as a translation for "sorry" which like no actual Norwegian person apart from maybe in some dialects uses ever. Also remember it’s a translation, and the translator has tried to maintain a sense of “Britishness”, so some of the language isn’t entirely natural)

You can also search ebooks by language (including Norwegian) and download them for free from here (definitely 100% not illegal in any way shape or form *shifty glance*)

If you prefer to buy Norwegian ebooks actually legally, you can do so here.

Youtube channels:

Special shoutout to Norwegian Done Easy because Markus is my italki tutor and he's awesome (plus I'm featured! So you can see my silly little face Norwegianing as hard as it can!)

Norsklærer Karense (I'm uhh not actually a fan BUT she has lots of useful videos for like A1-B2 level. There's also a lot of useful information about culture and moving to Norway and integration and test-taking)

Preben's Norwegian Academy (he's from Nord-Norge, so you get some dialect exposure too)

Norskkurset (it's not updated for a little while but there are some good videos there!)

Norwegian Teacher Karin (another one that's not updated for a while but still has some good videos)

Norwegian With Tor (for a little Tromsø dialect)

Hope that's enough to get you started/keep you going! Let me know if you have any questions :)

[koreanstudyjunkie]

Things That Hinder Your Korean Progress | How to learn more efficiently.

Disclaimer: These are just some tips to hopefully help you stay on track or get back on track if you’ve been out of it recently. I think It can help you if you're lost.

1. Relying On Romanization or Hesitating To Learn Hangul

Romanization is not inherently bad or evil though a lot of people in the Korean learning community may act as if it is. English is written in "roman" letters and when a Korean word is written out in these "English" letters, It is referred to as "Romanization". When you first start learning to read, you want to stop relying on romanization as early on as possible.

2. Ignoring Particles

there's no need to learn every single particle at once, but once you start learning grammar and making your own sentences, definitely don't negelct the particles. [Click here to see a list of all the major Korean particles & their usages]

3. Neglecting To Practice Speaking (or any one skill in general whether it be reading, writing, listening, or speaking)

This also depends on your goal. If you just want to be able to have a conversation, then of course you want to practice speaking & listening most of all. But It's also good to know that writing and reading can improve both speaking & listening skills and vice versa. So why not try and do them all here and there.

4. Not Learning About Korean Culture

Culture directly affects your Korean. The best way to learn about the culture is to watch & engage with Korea media (shows, social media, videos, etc.)

5.) Not Learning Enough Grammar/Vocabulary (Learning too much grammar/vocabulary)

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes you may get into a phase where you only study grammar or only study vocab. But try to balance both.

> Quizlet: Vocabulary Masterlist

6. Skipping Review

I'm so guilty of this, but reviewing is essential. What's the point of learning something if you forget about it every time and have to re-learn it over and over again.

> The Best Technique For Studying/Reviewing Grammar: how to remember grammar you learn

7. Overdoing it and then getting burned out

I do this as well. we all get excited and study a lot but then we might get burned out and not study for a long time. Study to your heart's content, but be sure to plan for after that excitement dies down and you're less motivated.

> How to make a Korean study routine

8. Not taking breaks when needed (believing that you’ll forget everything of you don’t study for a day or a few days)

Trust me when I say, a day off or even a week off will not kill all of your progress. You may forget a few things, but you'll relearn quicker than when you first learned it and you'll be much happier for it at the end of the day.

Even when studying, taking a break after some time (20-30-40 minutes or whatever) or hours of studying is just a good practice to have. Not just studying, but with any tasks that you spend lots of time doing.

9. Comparing yourself to others

So what If someone has studied for less time than you but "knows" more. We're all learning at our own pace. You're situation is not the same as everyone else.

10. Thinking it’s a one and done situation.

It's not just 2 years or 3 years of studying and your done forever. Learning a language is a life-long thing. The more you learn, the less you know and this is not meant to discourage you.

I believe it actually will improve your mindset towards studying Korean to know that you have the rest of your life to improve not just a year or a few months.

Korean is EASY to learn BUT HARD to master. Most of you may have hit a plateau, just know it's okay and happens to everyone. Keep studying. You progress fast in the beginning and then it slows down to a more realistic pace. The only way to break past is to keep going!

[heersheys]

Murphy's Law of Love

Heeseung x gn!reader (coffee shop au)

Basically my poor attempt on writing this prompt:

"You're the customer and you get back at me for all the times I've spelt your name wrong by mispronouncing my name in increasingly horrible ways"

Warnings : i wrote this at 4 am so grammar errors and misused vocabs (everything is error at this point.) didn't proof read. Feedbacks and corrections (in a kind way) are much appreciated.

☕ ☕ ☕

Eyes half opened, you fumbled around to find your phone so you can check the time. When you couldn't find what you're looking for, you quickly got up from your bed just to see that your phone isn't plugged in. Rushed out of bed, you ran to the living room since there was a clock here and when you saw the clock , you were literally shocked. 3 hours, yes, you were exactly 3 hours late. You came back to your room -cursing and being mad at yourself, to look up your phone.

Almost half an hour later, when you were about to give up, you found your phone under your bed. But it was out of battery. That's probably why you didn't wake up on time. You gave a frustrated sigh then took a deep breath and closed your eyes, trying to calm down. Okay, you got off on the wrong foot today but it doesn't have to go on like that. Right..?

You started to get ready for the day, even though it was late. After going through a lot of problems - like your hair not getting in shape or couldn't find the clothes you were looking for or them being dirty, you were finally ready and all that was left to start the day was to get your precious coffee from your favorite coffee shop. Hoping that makes your day a bit better.

***

Well, devil works hard but Murphy works harder. (a/n: this is going to be my life motto from now on i swear) Yeah, that might be the only valid explanation for how today's going. As if what happened to you in the morning wasn't enough, you just learned that your favorite coffee shop will be closed for 3 months due to renovation. You looked back at the shop one last time with a pout and teary eyes. Disappointment was evident on your face. You sighed in defeat and started walking towards the bus stop. While waiting for the bus at the bus stop, an advertisement for a newly opened coffee shop caught your eye. And without wasting a second you started to walk excitedly towards the address written in the ad, hoping that this coffee shop would be the thing that would break the chain of bad luck you had been suffering all day.

When you entered the shop the rich fragrance of coffee surrounded you, instantly making you relax. Wooden floors, comfortable seats, walls and tables decorated with soft colors, shelves full of books, games and comics, paintings hanging on the wall giving positive vibes,cute chandeliers filling the shop with soft lights...

The shop was so peaceful and comfortable, you were engrossed in this cozy atmosphere. Until, of course, the cute barista called out to take your order. With a smile brighter than every light in the shop, this boy was like a prince from the fairy tales you read as a kid, with wide, bright and expectant eyes, angelic voice, soft and handsome features, rosy lips and slender fingers waiting the take your order, his slightly chubby cheeks growing even more red as you kept your gaze on him. He gave a sigh of relief when you finally averted your gaze from him and told your order in a calm voice. He was too cute for his own good, you think for yourself.

But that cuteness wasn't going to save him from writing your name wrong on the cup when you were having an awful day. You were happy that you finally got your favorite coffee until you saw your misspelled name on the cup, you were beyond pissed off at this point. It wasn't really a big deal at any other time, but it was the last straw after a day when you officially were the embodiment of Murphy's Law. Universe hates me,you thought, and now i hate that cute barista for making my day even more miserable. You got up from your seat, on your way to talk to him. You approached him with a fake smile on your face and asked him his name in a friendly tone when he looked at you. Unlike you, he answered sincerely with that bright smile again.

"Heeseung. Lee Heeseung."

But that bright-smiled boy was now nothing more than an angel-faced devil in your eyes.

"Oh, Heesong-ssi nice to meet you!"

You said with a cute smile, pronouncing his name wrong on purpose, saying goodbye and leaving the shop without letting Heeseung reply.

***

And this 'mispronouncing / spelling names' thing between you and Heeseung had continued throughout the time your favorite shop was closed. And after a few weeks, Heeseung would rather sell his soul to the devil than misspelling your name that day.

The second time you went to the shop - yes, you went there the second time, because although you were angry that day, you had to admit that the coffee was very good, and it didn't go unnoticed by you that the shop was more crowded than last time.

Waiting for your turn, you glance at Heeseung, who is busy taking care of other customers.

"Here's your order. Have a great day! "

And you rolled your eyes at the woman who is giggling like a high schooler at Heeseung's kind gestures -and possibly that stupid smile on his handsome face.When it was finally your turn, Heeseung asked for your name again you said your name twice so that the disaster from last time wouldn't happen again. Then you took your order and sat down to a table, after taking a look at your coffee cup and seeing your misspelled name -again, saying you're annoyed would be an understatement. While you were narrowing your eyes and throwing non-existent lasers at the boy behind the counter, the said boy, Heeseung, suddenly looks at you and smiles, as if he sensed you looking at him. You were probably just staring at him with a blank face as you were caught of guard. Lee Heeseung was being too much, too much to handle.

You were getting ready to leave -since you finished your coffee, when you saw the doe-eyed barista coming to your way. Your palms started to sweat, as your body tensed visibly. You gave him a shy smile which he mirrored immediately, then he spoke with a warm tone.

"I guess you're leaving? Hope you enjoyed the coffee and our service."

You spoke with a honeyed voice.

"There's not enough words to describe that coffee, believe me. And I'm really glad that you asked but I'm in a hurry (you weren't) and i don't want to keep you from your work. So if you excuse me Heejung-ssi, i need to go."

You hurriedly got up, heading to the door saying take care to him, and it was priceless to see his smiling face turning into a shocked and confused one. And yes, there's not enough words for you to describe how much you enjoyed his reaction.

***

The day he misspelled your name for the third time, instead of that beautiful smile he always wore, Heeseung took your order with an awkward smile and started preparing your coffee without trying to make a conversation. You thought, it was understandable that he had a strange attitude towards you after your last time. After politely giving you your order and wishing you a good day, he smiled for the last time without looking at your face and moved on to the next customer.It had become a new habit for you to check your name right after you had your coffee because of him. And as expected Heeseung didn't let you down, misspelling your name again. With a mischievous smile, you turned back to the boy and waved, Heeseung looking up to your face with confusion.

"Have a good day, Haeseong-ah!"

You shouted and winked. His face growing red out of embarrassment as he waved back in tiny. His coworkers giving you a disapproving look. His tiny wave almost made you break down a fond smile but instead of that you wore a triumphiant smile, walking out of the shop.

The fourth time, Heeseung's name completely changed into a new one "Hyunseok", hearing his brand new name(?) this time, He gave a sigh of disappointment and passed on to the other customer without even saying 'have a good day' or smiling. Ok,you might've gone a little bit far with this names, but in your defense, it wasn't normal for him to misspelling your name too many times too. The first time he had just heard your name, the second time he might have mixed your name up because the shop was so crowded, but there was no reason for him to misspell it even though you said it over and over after that.

A week later, you entered the shop with a big smile on your face again, this time Heeseung greeted you with a beautiful smile and a different glint in his eyes. He took your order again as usual, spelled your name wrong while looking straight into your eyes, and then winked and walked away as if nothing had happened. You watched him walk away with your wide eyes as red hues creeping your face. Your heartbeat quickened and you gave a breath that you didn't even know you were holding. You turned your back and walked towards one of the tables so that Heeseung wouldn't see you in this state as you covered your face with your hands.

"Order 234 is ready."

You were slightly nervous as you made your way to Heeseung to take your order, it wouldn't be wrong to say that you were still under the influence of his actions. You cleared your throat, bowed to Heeseung and took your drink from his soft hands. Prepared to strike a final blow you said

"Thanks, Hyungwon-ssi!"

Heeseung opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to say something and you couldn't help your curiosity, eventually asking him if he wants to say something.Heeseung replied in an offended tone as his eyes lit up.

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but may i ask why do you always say my name wrong?"

You chuckled and showed the cup, feeling like you'd finally been caught.

"For the same reason you always writing my name wrong."

Heeseung frowned and answered with a confused face.

"I misspelled your name because you mispronounced my name."

After a short silence, you both cracked a laughter to your awkward situation.Looking at him with a bright smile you asked.

"So you were misspelling my name on purpose, Heeseung-ssi?"

When you said that, Heeseung's face lit up as he heard his name coming from your mouth, the corners of his lips curled up.

"Not at first, but yes." he said, keeping his answer short. Your conversation with Heeseung was interrupted when the bell rang to indicate that a new customer had arrived in the shop. As you both look at each other sadly, deciding that you should finally say goodbye (you couldn't keep Heeseung from his work any longer, and the awkward glances his coworkers gave you as they passed by were starting to increase by each minute).

"Thanks for the coffee and chat, Heeseung, see you later." You bowed your head, wishing him a good night. Heeseung also greeted you, thanked you, and proceeded to take the order so not to keep the customer waiting any longer. You took one last look at the prince -in his barista apron, as you walked out the door and couldn't wait to come back to this shop and him ofc.

☕ ☕ ☕

(hope you liked it 💜)

[rigelmejo]

I guess. On the upside. If your goal for chinese reading is 盗墓笔记... 3 years or less to start reading them is a very doable goal.

If your goal is 淮上 please tell me how you got good enough to read them with no dictionary ;-;

Related: I read a thread on reddit the other day of a person who passed HSK 6 in part using anki HSK word lists, and in part by Watching ALL of Soul Land donghua then 800 chapters of the audiobooks and novels, and playing the MMO. Which, very cool.

It made me wonder if Soul Land as a story had a broad enough vocabulary to help with reading/listening to things generally, or if it had a limited domain of vocabulary to its genre and difficulty level... which means the HSK anki decks likely helped with a lot of the needed vocabulary for the test. And the Soul Land stuff helped with some additional vocab, a lot of additional hanzi, grammar recognition, and of course listening/reading speed.

Because like... there's a LOT of mega long chinese web novels, you could probably hit the millions of characters reading amount suggestion for fluency with one or two series you like. The Kings Avatar, Dao Mu Bi Ji, Ever Night etc. You could read 1-2 book series instead of 92 individual books (as recommended for fluency). However, the problem is 1-2 series likely limits the vocabulary you learn and the reading difficulty you get comfortable with. If you marathon read all the Goosebumps books in English, that does not make you necessarily prepared to read The Poisonwood Bible. If you read all of the Bunnicula books (I did as a kid) that doesn't make you ready to read James Mitchner novels quickly and easily. The children books metaphor is a bit too steep to be comparable, but you know what I mean. If you started learning English and only read the Twilight series you're still going to find Anne Rice books and Stephen King books a bit challenging due to vocabulary in Twilight being less broad than those books and the style being different than Twilights YA first person straightforwardness, and vastly different genre books about say stocks or the business world would also be challenging since those spheres of vocabulary don't come up in Twilight. So... could you learn to read with just a couple book series? Mmm I'm gonna guess no....?

Just because I imagine a broad vocabulary and familiarity with various styles will serve your reading skills well. I am guessing it's why our English class made us read varied style stuff, and I am sure I'd be more confident with more literary chinese novels if I just... sat down and read one ;-;. Also fairly sure I need to Start reading chinese nonfiction to eventually Find chinese nonfiction books/articles to be less challenging. So I think the learners who initially read news articles definitely made a good choice compared to me... who will eventually need to.

And yet, some language skills do transfer to other reading materials. Vocabulary learned is learned and serves you well in many other places you wouldn't expect. A majority of the most useful vocabulary to you (for reading comprehension) will be ~9000 most common words, and being Common you'll likely find them in most reading options you pick if they're not too limited. And the words beyond that you'll need ARE likely specific. Like business or stocks or cooking or sewing or archeology terminology. However, at that point reading will likely only be as hard as reading a new subject/genre in your native language... which we do without looking words up all the time. Added benefit of chinese: hanzi give vague "help" to vocabulary in general. I might not know the new word, but if I've learned another word with one of the same hanzi i might have a decent guess of the ballpark meaning of the new word. Example: 黑暗 if you know that means dark, maybe you can guess 黑幽幽, 阴暗，暗黑，黑色，乌黑，墨黑，漆黑，have something to do with dark/dim/black. So if you read something with a broad amount of hanzi, learning them will help with figuring out new words. Even if you only read say a historical novel but want to read a modern set novel next, or vice versa. The hanzi you learn will help with the next thing you read. I didn't know 矿灯 meant miners lamp when I started dmbj but Deng 灯 was a nice help.

Tldr: I don't quite think a person can learn enough to read most things comfortably Just from one book series. But to study primarily from one series IS an interesting idea to me. And guaranteed to be enjoyable and carry you through a lot of good reading/listening practice if you like the story. And of course, as you go farther it gets easier TO read the story you're enjoying.

[snowbabys]

gc ⋆ final considerations

warnings: a lot of rambling in here and a little game? in the end.

hello everyone! first of all, thank you for reading my series! i wasn't expecting anything with it, like, at all, so i'm really happy people actually read it. thank you if you have been with us since the beginning, if you caught us in the middle, or if you're just discovering this series now! i started this all for fun, and if y'all had fun while reading, that's more than enough for me! and if you handled my late ass daily, wow, you're a warrior, i admire you a lot.

this whole series/universe means a lot to me (even tho i did it for fun hehe), it improved my grammar and vocab a lot, made me learn so many things about writing and constructing a story, i've learned things i never thought existed while searching for exact translations of what i was trying to say, and more.

am i completely satisfied with it? no. is there anything i wish i did differently? many, of course. should i be more responsible and work with my time management? oh yeah, that... :') moving on.

many parts i felt like i've rushed, or parts that feel/seem incomplete to me, things i should've added but didn't, things i shouldn't have added but did, but my skills couldn't make any better (not to mention i literally spoiled part 5 in some tags before part 4 was even released why-). the summary mainly is a joke cause i wrote it before changing the plot, oh god, is it too late to rewrite that? (btw, the plot has been changed about 3 times, that explains a lot huh. the first draft had nothing to do with the actual story).

i also learned that tumblr does hate me cause i can't fu**ing schedule sh*t properly in here and tag ppl and and UGH it took me almost a month to solve the scheduling issue.

BUT! it's all a great learning experience. i'm surely using everything i've acquired with gc on my next works and if you're curious about the next series, all i can say for now is that it's coming in late april/early may and, shameless self-promo time, here is a snippet! also no more scheduling or giving the exact time of posting cause omfg you know already.

and woah. now i can finally sleep normally again. and post the requests omg i'm so late.

special thanks: every single person in the taglist, y'all have my heart if you want! ♡ people on the comments too, i love you 3000. anonnies who came for the series hehe. and google translate my guy you carried me in part 7 and 9 <3

uhm okay thank you if you read all that KHDAKHFHFD i'm gonna list a few things right here, feel free to do it too if you want, i'd love to see what you think:

favorite chapter: i do love part 3 a lot, but part 5 strikes deep man. and part 7 is so kashakdh too. uhmm, i'll go with part 5.

favorite scene: during part 5, when niki is trying to convince himself he's not jelly (the whole beginning is so good to me).

favorite character: soobin. nono i'm joking, i rlly want to say niki, but... jay :')

last but not least, chapter that killed me the most: part 7 cause omfg how hard that chapter was, to write and point out where the story was going, and it's so big too.

[khiphop-discussions]

Hello, I wanted to ask aside from lessons how did you learn Korean and how long it took you to learn the basics. Thank you!

This is hard to answer cause IDK if you are planning to start or if you've already started. So I'm just gonna write this as if you haven't started at all or are maybe just working on learning hangul at the moment.

OK so I started with hangul. I had the tengugo app on android but it seems like it doesnt exist anymore or maybe they rebranded. This was around like 2017 maybe? There's probably a lot of apps for it thought especially now. Try one that has lessons AND tests so that you can actually test yourself.

If you stay on it, it should take less than a week. If you don't then it'll take longer obviously. Took me around 2 weeks cause I didn't stay consistent. Everything is much easier with hangul. Romanization is literally the devil. I never know which hangul character the "u" for example is REALLY supposed to be making. I just take a guess and most times its right but others it isn't. I've noticed other people have the same issue. (ex: jung vs yongguk vs seungyun vs seunghyun; first two are different sounds but the third and fourth can sound like the 1st one or the 2nd one)

Also, get a hangul keyboard on your phone (also available in the app stores). Try typing things in hangul when you need to type something that's is Korean. So if you're typing "oppa" then TYPE IT OUT IN HANGUL! 오빠 same thing with words like 사랑. Obviously to someone who speaks Korean or can read hangul (I just noticed I haven't taken my own advice with hangul but I don't think I've ever actually typed or written that word in hangul in my life weirdly enough LOL). Or just when you are typing songs into Spotify or apple music or Youtube! That helps A LOT if you can find the song using the English translation or romanization tbh. But over the years I've noticed most songs are searchable with romanization or English translated name. still comes in handy when its a common song name in English though!

Here's a desktop keyboard I use a lot but google translate has one as well https://www.branah.com/korean (you can also buy stickers for your keyboard but I haven't done that yet cause I don't wanna spend the money or stick them on LOL. It's not that expensive but since I have the virtual keyboards I don't really care anymore.)

BUT I WILL say that the thing that helped most was taking classes. It really kept me accountable cause I'm a master procrastinator and I never really built good study habits growing up. If you're similar then I think classes would be good for you. It forces you to do at least SOME work and studying otherwise you fail. I've also had other friends who say it's hard to find time to practice or study outside of school.

Going to Korea helped IMMENSELY as well so if you are able to study abroad and take Korean classes then definitely take it! I've talked about this before but despite almost NEVER using the language outside of class, classes helped me A LOT with speaking. Being in the country and passively listening made my listening skill improve LEAPS and bounds (NOTE: I was only there SIX weeks compared to studying in the US for close to a YEAR but hadn't improved that much here). I can at least make out a lot of words/sentences now even if I don't understand the content.

Some GREAT resources I've used are:

Integrated Korean textbooks. They are not super expensive and they have LOT of vocabulary. Only downside for some people is that they are paperbacks. My first book in the series (beginner 1) got a bit messed up because it was in my backpack on days it rained and it got wet. Also not in color. The dialogues can also be a bit short. But overall I think it's a really solid book to use especially for vocab/grammar patterns and the amount of chapters and info. One good thing is that is seems like people have already made. This is what we used at UCLA.

Yonsei Korean textbooks are GREAT as well. They are much thinner but "longer" length wise. They also have color. I think there's A LOT more dialogue in this book. They may not be all that much longer but it seems to me like there are more of them. I don't feel like it's as vocab and grammar heavy as Integrated Korean BUT I think that might be because it's split up into so many sections per chapter so it seems like less even when it's not. The pacing is just different. These are also similar price but I think it is easy to find them free online. Same as integrated Korean BUT I prefer physical books for certain things and language is one of them. (I think in some of the downloads people were missing certain pages for some reason from what I remember in class so that's another thing to watch out for).

These books also have a writing ,grammar, and reading book for each section. So I guess it can be expensive if you want all three or even two of each. I guess that's another reason they seem thinner or less packed than integrated Korean. Some info is in different books. For Yonsei Korean, I used the books while studying abroad at Yonsei. At UCLA I only used this for upper division Korea classes which were advanced and from what I remember I think it was more focused on reading/writing

For both sets of book books it seems like people have made pretty comprehensive quizlets so if you're running low on money or just don't wanna spend it on that then go look there!

I'm still not fluent and I DEFINITELY need to brush up on basics Those particles I can get MOST of the time but in certain situations they STILL mess me up. Everybody struggles with them though from what I've noticed. People are prone to just dropping them though since it's possible BUT avoidance = you'll never get better at them or at least struggle to so just struggle through it.

EXPERIMENTAL STUFF:

I'm planning on making a playlist of listening practice stuff (beginner to advanced listening practice videos) on Youtube so I can try and replicate my time in Korea. I will play the playlist out loud on my TV while I go about my day and see if it works the same. Hopefully my listening improves even more. There's also this method called "Repetitive Listening" that I've seen around but never tried so I think this might help with that as well.

I also at some point wanna work my way up to studying THREE hours a day (speaking, grammar, listening/reading which again was supposed to replicate my time in Korea as closely as possible). So far I failed HARD at doing this in January. I think I studied around 2 hours the whole MONTH!!!!! So now I'm gonna try and just ease in and work my way up. People almost always fail when they set lofty goals like that anyway but it's better to set expectations high and then fail to a lower, more "realistic" (whatever that is for the given person) goal then to start low.

I'll get back to you with updates on how the playlist is going!

*Just wanted to note this in case anybody is reading this: but the playlist thing is different from trying to learn when you sleep or methods like that. Playing any language while sleeping isn't really a good method. It might help a bit during REM sleep but that's a small portion of your sleep time. The noise will probably just interrupt a person's sleep quality which will make them worse at language learning (and pretty much everything else) the night after. Listening while you're awake is a bit different. But I'm not sure if passive listening through recordings works the same as it would if I was listening to ambient noise in an actual environment in Korea so that's why I'm testing it out! I suspect/hypothesize it would work similarly but again, I'll let you know!

[misscrawfords]

How/why did you start studying Russian & do you have any tips for someone who would like to learn it in the future? (currently battling with German argh)

Why? A really good question. Too many Cold War spy stories? Wanting to understand the dialogue on The Americans? Strange fascination with a different culture that I can't quite explain? Wanting to learn a language that is Indo-European but hard? Thinking it might be "useful" for a hypothetical career change in the future? Enjoyment of singing Rachmaninov and Russian folk songs in my choir? Who knows! I do love the fact that it's something that I have no reason to do, has no connection to anything else that I'm doing, no family connection, no friend connection, no reason to succeed and no fallout if I fail! It's quite liberating to learn a skill with absolutely zero pressure to do well on it beyond self-motivation and interest.

I've wanted to do it for about 10 years and dabbled with Duolingo on and off but never got going till last year when lockdown meant I could do online lessons with a London university as opposed to trekking into London on a weekly basis which just wouldn't be feasible. My group bonded quite well and wanted to continue online this year and our teacher was up for it so we've just started doing Year 2 privately. (And I'm on a 376 day streak on Duolingo now as well!)

Any tips... uh, hmm. Truth is, I'm not great at Russian! I mean, I understand the grammar because I'm a linguist and I find that fascinating so I can complete written exercises reasonably enough with grammar notes and dictionary but I have no speaking practice except in lessons and I haven't yet sat down and learned all my tables and vocab which is what I really have to do if I'm going to make real progress.

I guess, learning the alphabet is key because you can't do much if you're struggling to read. Russian actually has two alphabets - a typed one and a cursive one. I learned the cursive one as well because it's much easier to write with than to print the typed alphabet and that's been a great help when doing exercises and making notes in class.

I think making some attempt to learn the tables, especially of nouns, is really important as well - which you'll know from German! I found Duolingo REALLY hard before I started lessons, because I could see the words were changing endings, but without tables and some grammatical instruction I didn't know why and that was really frustrating. Even very quickly into the lessons when they were still really basic, it made a massive difference to how I was doing on Duolingo exercises.

I think the biggest thing that would make a difference would be being forced to speak the language and go immerse yourself in the culture by going to a country where it's spoken. I'm not actually going to get good at Russian until I go to Russia and have to speak it! Or at least get a conversation partner, but I don't think I'm at that stage yet.

Good luck with your German! I had a chance to learn German at school but I didn't get on with it and I really regret not making more of an effort now. My cousins live there, I really like the country and yet I can only say a few phrases. I really ought to learn German...

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hey! I saw your blog today and I love it very much!! I see you're an open person so, I also have a question: HOW does one survive studying japanese at uni?? I'm in my first year and only my second (online haha) semester and we started out with Minna no nihongo 1 but we're supposed to finish Minna 2 by the end of this semester, same with Basic Kanji book 1 in the first sem and now Basic Kanji Book 2, all while also learning mostly of Japan's history and others in this semester. Exams will kill me

Hello! I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog! I am open to a fault lol. Let me recount my meandering journey through uni, illustrating my feelings through gifs of Noel Fielding because he is my celebrity crush.

Uni is such a difficult time for so many people, trying to figure out who you are now and who you want to be later. It wasn’t until my senior year that I realized what I wanted to do. I started writing out my university experience and it got super long, so allow me to just summarize my “Lessons Learned” here and you can read the rest if you want to know all the dirty deets lol. I double-majored in Japanese and English, so I think that my experience can perhaps be useful to people who are majoring in things other than Japanese as well. 

Hard-Learned Lessons from Uni

Do not choose a course of study because it is “practical.” Choose it because it is something you love. Seriously. Nothing is more important than this point. Do not choose a major because “I’ll make a lot of money” or “My parents are telling me this is good for me.” 

If you are learning multiple languages at once, you must give your brain time to organize what you learned from one language lesson before moving on to the next. You can do this by waiting a couple hours between lessons, getting up and walking around, studying one language in different space from the other, etc. Otherwise, it all becomes a terrible mess in your head.

It’s okay not to know what you want your career to be. It’s okay not to have a specific plan. Life works out one way or the other.

I know how expensive uni can be. (It’s been six years since I graduated and I’m still making hefty loan payments.) But don’t feel like you have to take a full courseload every single semester and graduated asap, particularly if the classes are hard and/or you are working. I took the maximum credit hours allowed every semester on top of working RIDICULOUS hours and it nearly killed me at one point. I’m not kidding. 

It is not unusual to have an identity crisis and/or mental breakdown. Take care of yourself. Know when you are nearing breaking point. Seek out the help of professionals. Most universities have psychiatrists and therapists that will see you very cheaply. 

Surround yourself with good people and look out for each other. 

Do not rely on substances to ease your suffering because sometimes the remedy becomes the malady. Not saying you should avoid all parties or anything square like that, but just don’t be one of those people that parties every night and gets in over their head. 

Let me preface this by stating that I’m an American, and our universities are stupid because they force us to take a ton of “general education” courses that are irrelevant to our majors, and many students spend their first couple years taking only a couple courses related to their majors and minors, and try to focus on getting those stupid gen eds out of the way. 

Year 1: Oh Shit, This Is Harder Than I Thought It Would Be

I come from a town of less than 2600 people. Our high school prepared its students for the following career paths:

joining the military (boys only)

becoming a farmer (boys only)

welding, carpentry, or other practical jobs (boys only)

becoming a housewife (girls only)

So basically I coasted through high school never having to study anything because it was one great big joke, only I thought I was like super duper smart because I was in the top five of my graduating class of 48. LOLLLLLLLLL

I entered university as a German major, Japanese minor. (Japanese was not offered as a major at my uni). I had never studied German previously, but I studied Spanish and French in high school and I just had this feeling that German and Japanese were the languages for me. 

The first semester, I had Japanese 101 and German 101 back to back, in the EXACT SAME CLASSROOM. I can’t stress enough how much of a mindfuck it was to go from thinking about Japanese for 50 minutes, having a 10 minute break, and then trying to switch your brain to German. IN THE SAME ROOM. It actually gave me headaches to try and make that mental jump. Managed to pull through the year with A’s in both, but German was much more of a challenge to me than Japanese. Which was really unexpected. 

I also flunked several gen eds because I didn’t give a shit about them and skipped them and got placed on academic probation and was nearly kicked out of uni because of my poor grades

Basically, I was such a weeb that I had watched enough anime with subtitles and sung along to enough anime songs that I had absorbed about 90% of the first year’s worth of Japanese vocab and grammar through osmosis. I really did have the power of God and anime on my side.

Year 2: The Year of the Mid-Midlife Crisis and Mental Breakdown

There really is no gif that will encapsulate the level of turmoil I went through that year. I looked really hard for one, trust me.

It became apparent very quickly that I could not keep up with German. I ended up dropping it early in the first semester, which meant I had to choose a new major. Thinking of what would be practical to pair with a Japanese minor, I went for International Business for a semester, took Accounting, and realized that I HATE The Man, corporate bullshit, and also numbers as a concept.

All I knew at this point was that I liked Japanese but couldn’t make it a major. I also knew I didn’t want to transfer universities. So I kept taking gen eds, just barely passing them because to this day I cannot bring myself to put effort into something I do not care about, and also taking more classes related to my Japanese minor. It was the Japanese classes that saved my GPA and kept me from getting kicked out of uni.

At the same time, I took a creative writing course because that’s been a hobby of mine since elementary school, and I kinda thought about an English major, but then was like, “Eww I don’t wanna be forced to read books I don’t give a shit about. And also, what will I do with that degree?”

Also, at the same time, I was working full time, and often getting stuck working from 2 pm to 7 am (Yes, 15-hour shifts, because the overnight dude would call in sick last minute and I’d be begged to cover his shift), and then dragging myself to classes and drooling on the desks because I’d fall asleep.

Also also, I started to have possible hallucinations? To this day I don’t know what was going on, but either I was legitimately going crazy, or there was a demon following me around and being quite rude to me, making light fixtures fall and shatter inches from my head, throwing papers around my room, opening and closing doors, turning lights off and on, coming to me in dreams and doing some really, really traumatic things to me in them, and just standing in corners staring at me at all hours of the night. Had me so scared that towards the end of the school year I was waiting to sleep until sunrise, when it would go away. And no, I was not using any mind-altering substances of any sort. Not even going out and getting drunk. 

So, yeah. Year Two was a hard one that I can’t believe I pushed through. Probably the darkest year of my life, I’d say. What got me through it? An unhealthy amount of energy drinks, friends, and my love of Japanese. Also Aerosmith.

Do I still see that demon? No. He vanished when the school year ended and I moved out of the dorms. Do I believe in the supernatural? Yes, to an extent. Do I think that what I was seeing was actually a demon? I honestly don’t know. I have had actual supernatural experiences verified by multiple witnesses, and a few years before Year 2, several friends and myself had seen an entity similar to what was following me around. But this one in Year 2 only did things when I was alone. So it could have all been in my head, and I will never know. 

Since then, I have been diagnosed with general anxiety and also a form of insomnia that keeps me from sleeping through the night, and I know that my anxiety manifests itself in psychosomatic ways. In other words, my mind will take my anxiety and turn it into a physical symptom that feels real in every way, but is actually not occurring. So far it’s manifested as: sensitivity to sunlight, the symptoms of a stroke or heart attack, half of my face going numb, and headaches in my left eye. Once I realize that the symptom is just my anxiety, I can force myself to ignore and overcome it. But then my anxiety finds a new form to manifest, and the cycle repeats a few months later. It could be that my stress caused me to see this demon for a while.

Should I have consulted a psychiatrist and gotten help? YEP. If you find yourself struggling like that, seek help please. 💕

Year 3: Adrift But Afloat

I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment with my best friend, a Japanese girl I met in the dorms freshman year. I will call her Setsuko. Setsuko is basically the reason I graduated uni. She memorized my class schedules and took copies of exam dates, woke me up, forced me to go classes instead of skipping, forced me to go to the library and study with her, and cooked me dinner most days since she didn’t have to work like I did. I can’t express enough how much she did to improve my life outside of school and work, and how much that improved my mental health. She also acclimated me to lots of subtle things about Japanese culture just by living with her, and this helped me later when I moved to Japan. Thank you, Setsuko. 一生の恩人。

I was still doing those bullshit 15-hour overnight shifts way more than I should have, and also had the maximum courseload.

The Japanese classes got a lot more difficult in Year 3. But I loved them. They were the only classes I never skipped. I took more classes towards the minor like Buddhist Philosophy and Japanese History, which I really enjoyed. While polishing off more gen eds, I thought over what to do with my major. 

My family and friends all told me that I should become an English teacher. I had always been good at words and at explaining things. But I didn’t really like the idea of being a high school teacher. I became an English major, though, because I knew that I didn’t hate English. Took grammar classes and HOLY SHIT did I hit my stride.

I realized that I didn’t like English lit. I liked linguistics. So I focused heavily on all grammar and linguistics courses, taking the bare minimum of literature courses required for the major. My GPA improved substantially. 

Yet I still was consumed with this nagging fear. It was Year 3 and I still had no fucking idea what I wanted to do when I graduated.

Year 4: Clarity At The 11th Hour

Urged on by my “Don’t you dare get one of those stupid arts degrees that won’t get you a paycheck” parents, I decided that the most “practical” degree would not be “English,” but “English Education.” I began taking the English Ed classes with linguistics, grammar, and second language acquisition classes. The goal was to become a qualified English high school teacher who could also do ESL (since I had Spanish and Japanese under my belt more or less). 

At the same time, I entered into Independent Study for Japanese with two other students. We were tasked with reading Izu no Odoriko, a classic short story. Independent study was its own beast. It required a lot more concentration and work on my part, obviously. But because Japanese was my first and foremost passion, I centered my efforts on those courses, and then on the others.

The process of getting certified to be an English teacher was lengthy and expensive in my state. This meant my graduation would be further prolonged, and I was worried about money, because I was already about $50,000 in debt at the time, despite working those fucking overnight shifts all the time that were eating me alive.

Then, during the summer vacation when my 4th year ended, I got a scholarship and went to Japan to study abroad. Education majors had the option to study abroad in several countries, and as luck would have it, one of them was Japan, and it was Setsuko’s HOMETOWN! The study abroad program itself was the first month of summer vacation, and Setsuko said, “Okay, just come stay at my house for the rest of summer vacation!”

Never have I said “yes” quicker in my entire life.

On the train headed from Sapporo to the town where I would be actually staying during my studies, I looked at the lush rice paddies and mountains in the distance and my entire heart just hummed with this “This is where you’re meant to be.” I knew then and there that I would move to Japan upon graduation.

What would I do there? Well, teach English, obviously.

My three months in Japan effectively aligned my entire life. My path had materialized before me. It was a roughly hacked, hard-to-see path through thick underbrush, but I could see it nonetheless. 

Year 5: Let’s Hurry It Up, I’m Ready To Live

Come Year 5, all of my Japanese classmates that had been with me since freshman year were gone and I was alone. My professor taught me Classical Japanese through independent study, and it was the must grueling course I took my entire five years there. But I found it invaluable and am eternally grateful to him for teaching me, because you see Classical Japanese a lot more than you’d think you would in everyday life. Particularly in formal settings. 

I still wanted to get certified to teach English in American high schools, because while I knew I wanted to go to Japan for now, I didn’t know if I wanted to spend my entire life there and I wanted a solid job opportunity when I came back to the states at some point.

However, the more education courses I took, the more I saw that the American education system was just as full of red-tape and The Man’s bullshit as corporate America, something else I rebuke with every fiber of my being. I also realized I’d need to take a 6th year of university, and that just wasn’t financially feasible for me. So I switched to a plain old English major with a heavy focus on linguistics and second language acquisition, and continued classical Japanese. 

I took the remaining 3 gen eds online in the summer, graduated, popped up to Chicago to do a month-long intensive course to get the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages issued by Cambridge.) It’s the most widely accepted and revered certification for teaching English as a foreign language.

So in the span of five years, I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in English with a focus in linguistics and SLA, and what is technically a major in Japanese Studies. 40 credit hours were required for a major, and I completed 42 credit hours tied to my minor, so while it isn’t listed on my diploma as a major, I did the coursework. I also got a CELTA Pass B, which only 20% of applicants achieve and never expires. The grand total for all of this was roughly $100,000 USD in loans.

Post-Graduation

The week I came back to my hometown from Chicago with my CELTA in hand, I packed my suitcases, threw a going-away party, and then flew to Sapporo, where I began my first job after uni, teaching English to children aged 0-18 at a private English conversation school. I did that for three years before changing careers and becoming a Japanese-English translator/interpreter for a global company. 

So how useful have my choices during university proven to be?

I’m sure I don’t have to explain that studying Japanese helps me tons with translating Japanese to English or living in Japan lol

Studying English grammar, linguistics, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition has allowed me to recognize minute nuances that can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful business negotiation when interpretation is necessary.

My background in education also means that I know how to present information clearly, concisely, and in a way that engages the audience. I am known as “The PowerPoint Pro” at work lol. 

I also have a keen eye for performance evaluation, behavior analysis, and improvement action plans. 

I offered English conversation lessons to coworkers for over a year, and now that is being done in other branches across the company! (Well, they were before COVID haha.) 

I DO NOT RECOMMEND WORKING THE HOURS I WORKED WHILE IN SCHOOL. My grades suffered and I wish I had worked less and focused more on classes. However, by working 15-hour shifts and doing full days of classes, I developed a very good tolerance for overtime, which comes in handy in the Japanese workplace. Just last month I had three 15 hour days in the same week. Sweet, sweet overtime pay. 

All of these facets have culminated in me earning a pretty nice promotion to 正社員 seishain back in February, which means I get nice benefits and basically my job is guaranteed until I die or the company goes under.

Should I decide to return to America someday, I will probably not go into the education field. Too much red tape. I will likely continue translation/interpretation for companies, because it isn’t too difficult and pays well. Though ideally I’d love to just make a living sharing cool information about Japanese and stuff, and maybe writing those stories that are bouncing around in my head when I should be working haha.

Do I think the debt is worth it?

Well, I don’t think I had any other option than to take out those loans. I didn’t have the means to learn the things I wanted to learn unless I went to university. 

Unless Japanese work visa requirements have changed, you are required to have a bachelor’s degree in order to obtain my sub-type of work-visa, so I needed a degree of some kind no matter what. 

Frankly, if I hadn’t gone to that university and met my best friend Setsuko, I don’t think I’d be where I am right now, living the life I am now. So just having met her is worth any price to me. 

Paying off all the loans is daunting, especially when yen is weak to the dollar. There were months I had to ask my parents for help, especially early on. But now I’ve got multiple loans paid off, my salary has increased, and the “omg i have money and no supervision so I can buy whatever I want” idiocy has mostly gone away. But I did get a super sweet pair of blindingly silver Converses a couple days ago that I definitely didn’t need

Do I have any regrets regarding my time at university?

I still regret dropping Old English for a stupid English Ed class. Seriously, how cool would that have been? But I still have the textbook, workbook, and I contacted the professor last week and she was kind enough to send me a syllabus. God bless her. So now I’m working on that bit by bit, which is fun.

I wish I hadn’t been such a cocky, naive idiot my first year. Thinking I could just “show up for tests” was the stupidest thing. It messed up my GPA, and my parents forbade me from retaking classes so I couldn’t go back and fix my mistakes. I think I graduated with a 3.4 overall GPA out of 4, but my English major GPA was 3.9 and my Japanese GPA was 4.0. So it’s pretty frustrating to have those gen eds and my dumbfuckery mar my transcript like that.

I really didn’t party at all. Most all of my friends were straight-laced Japanese exchange students, and I was also working ridiculous hours so I just didn’t really have the time. A part of me feels like I missed out on that part of the college experience.

Recently I’ve been putting more effort into improving my creative writing by reading a lot of books on the subject. Not a small part of me wishes that I had gone with a Creative Writing major instead of English major, because I still would have studied all the grammar and linguistics. Then again, I do believe that creative writing can be self-taught.

I wish I hadn’t worked as much as I did. There were a lot of times I couldn’t complete assignments or I missed lectures because I was just so drained. It wasn’t even good money.

Well...I did not intend for this post to become as long as it has. I’ve been cooped up in my apartment with nothing but two goldfish for company for over a month now and I think I’m a bit stir-crazy. Thank you to anyone and everyone who bothered to read all of this and become my therapist for a bit haha. Love you all. Stay safe and well. 💖